safely stowed, was groping her way amongst the shallows and banks of the Salum down to the sea. The memory of our green-canvassed structures and of the strange instruments of brass and iron with which we English sought to shoot the moon for trying to eat up the sun has now doubtless become one of the traditions of the Wolofs and Sereres of Fundium. M. Deslandres, I am happy to say, was not less successful. In a communication which he has just made to the French Academy he gives a brief account of some of the main results he has gathered from the photographs which he was able to take. His instrumental equipment enabled him to obtain photographs of the corona, to study its spectrum, to examine the coronal light in the most refrangible part of the ultra-violet, and to measure the rotation of the corona by the method of displacement of the lines in its spectrum. His coronal photographs showed luminous jets of a length equal to twice the diameter of the sun, while the general form was similar to that usually observed at times of maximum sun-spot frequency. The spectrum photographs have revealed the existence of at least fifteen new coronal and chromospheric lines. But the most novel of M. Deslandres's observations relate to the rotation of the corona. His negatives showed the spectra of two points on exactly opposite sides of the corona, situated in the equatorial plane of the sun, at a distance equal to two-thirds of his diameter. The lines in the spectra indicated large displacements, and from the measurements, M. Deslandres concludes that the corona must travel nearly with the disc in its motion, and thus be subject to its periodical rotational movement. M. Bigourdan, who had been stationed at Joal, on the coast of Senegal, since December last, for the purpose of observing southern nebulæ and making pendulum observations, was commissioned by the Bureau des Longitudes to search during the eclipse for the inter-mercurial planet which Leverrier assumed to exist, and which he named Vulcan. M. Bigourdan was also requested to make careful determinations of all the four contacts, with a view of obtaining additional data for correcting the tables of the motion of the sun and moon. As regards Vulcan, M. Bigourdan was not more successful than his predecessors, but he determined with great accuracy the time of the total phase at Joal, which he found to be 4 min. 1 sec. My own observations at Fundium, which is about as much to the south of the probable central line as Joal is to the north, gave 4 min. 3 sec. as the time of totality, which is in very fair accord with M. Bigourdan's determination. M. Coculesco, a young Roumanian astronomer, who volunteered to accompany M. Deslandres to Fundium, found 4 min. 11 sec. As yet we have only meagre information of the results obtained by other observers. In spite of the many chances against them, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Shackleton were successful at Para Curu. Although large portions of the sky were covered with cumuli, the sun was not clouded over at the period of totality; the atmosphere, of course, was nearly saturated with aqueous vapour, but no haze or precipitation of moisture seems to have occurred, and in consequence of the remarkable transparency of the air the photographs are certain to be of exceptional interest. The Americans, who were mainly stationed in Chili, were equally fortunate. At Minas Aris, the Harvard College station, the atmospheric conditions are said to have been all that could have been wished for; there was no passing cloud or haze to mar the observations. The corona is reported by Professor Pickering to resemble that of 1857, as portrayed by Liais, and that of 1871, as observed by Captain Tupman. There were four streamers, two of which had a length exceeding the sun's radius, or stretching out more than 435,000 miles. Several dark rifts were visible, extending outwards from the moon's limb to the utmost limit of the corona. No rapid movement was observed within the streamers. The moon appeared of almost inky blackness, while from behind it, streamed out on all sides radiant filaments, beams, and sheets of pearly light. The inner corona was of dazzling brightness, but still more dazzling were the eruptive prominences which blazed through it, to use the words of Professor Young, like carbuncles. Generally, the inner corona had a uniform altitude, forming a ring of four minutes of arc in width, but separated with more or less definiteness from the outer corona, which projected to a far greater distance, and was much more irregular in shape. The outer corona seems to have been much larger than in 1879 or 1889, as, indeed, might have been expected at a period of maximum solar energy. The party seems to have been successful in photographing for the first time the "reversing layer" of the solar atmosphere. Professor Schaeberle, from the Lick Observatory, who observed at Mina Bronces, in the Desert of Atacama, reports that the corona was similar to that of 1883. He obtained in all fifty photographs, eight of which are ten by twenty inches in size, and one of which shows an image of the sun four inches in diameter, the corona covering a plate eighteen by twenty-two inches-a truly "record" result. The photographs are said to afford strong presumptive evidence of the truth of the mechanical theory of the corona which is associated with Professor Schaeberle's name. I cannot close without some reference to the debt of gratitude we are under to Captain Lang and his officers, for the readiness, zeal, and intelligence with which they co-operated in our work. Indeed, the whole crew of the gunboat did all in their power, often under circumstances of no little personal hardship, to minister to our success, and to contribute to our comfort. The best-laid schemes of astronomers, as of other men, "gang aft a-gley." There is a spanner to make, or a bit of soldering to be done, or a piece of woodwork to be altered. Assistance of this kind was always most cheerfully and promptly rendered. Lastly, it remains to be said, the recollection of the hospitality of H.M.S. Alecto and of H.M.S. Blonde, which took us away from the fever-stricken coast, will ever remain one of the pleasantest of the associations connected with the successful expedition of the African eclipse party. [T. E. T.] GENERAL MONTHLY MEETING, Monday, July 3, 1893. SIR JAMES CRICHTON-BROWNE, M.D. LL.D. F.R.S. Treasurer and Vice-President, in the Chair. His Royal Highness The Duke of Connaught, K.G. was elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Institution. Alfred Walter Soward, Esq. F.C.S. was elected a Member of the Royal Institution. The Special Thanks of the Members were returned for the following Donations to the Fund for the Promotion of Experimental Research at low temperatures: The Special Thanks of the Members were returned to William Schooling, Esq. M.R.I. for his present of Portraits of Sir George B. Airy, Professor J. Crouch Adams, Professor Cayley, and Dr. William Huggins. The PRESENTS received since the last Meeting were laid on the table, and the thanks of the Members returned for the same, viz. : FROM Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia-Proceedings, 1893, Part 1. 8vo. Accademia dei Lincei, Reale, Roma-Classe di Scienze Fisiche, Matematiche e Naturali. Atti, Serie Quinta: Rendiconti. 1o Semestre, Vol. II. Fasc. 8, 9. 8vo. 1893. American Philosophical Society-Proceedings, No. 140. 8vo. 1892. Asiatic Society of Bengal-Journal, Vol. LXI. Part I. No. 4. Part II. No. 3. 8vo. 1893. Proceedings, 1892, No. 10; 1893, No. 1. 8vo. Astronomical Society, Royal-Monthly Notices, Vol. LIII. No. 7. 8vo. 1893. Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Royal-Mathematische Classe: Abhandlungen, Band XVII. Abth. 3. 4to. 1892. Boulogne Chamber of Commerce-Plan of Boulogne Harbour. fol. 1893. British Architects, Royal Institute of Proceedings, 1893, Nos. 16, 17. 4to. British Astronomical Association-Journal, Vol. III. No. 8. 8vo. 1893. Brymner, Douglas, Esq. (the Archivist)-Report on Canadian Archives, 1892. 8vo. 1893. Chemical Industry, Society of-Journal, Vol. XII. No. 5. 8vo. 1893. Clerke, Miss Agnes M. (the Author)—History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Cornwall Polytechnic Society, Royal-Annual Report for 1892. 8vo. Brewers' Journal for June, 1893. 8vo. Chemist and Druggist for June, 1893. 8vo. fol. Ironmongery for June, 1893. 4to. 8vo. 8vo. Machinery Market for June, 1893. 8vo. Nature for June, 1893. 4to. Open Court for June, 1893. 4to. Photographic News for June, 1893. 8vo. Photographic Work for June, 1893. 8vo. Telegraphic Journal for June, 1893. fol. Transport for June, 1893. Zoophilist for June, 1893. 4to. Electrical Engineers, Institution of-Journal, No. 106. 8vo. 1893. Florence Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale-Bolletino, Nos. 179, 180. 8vo. 1893. Franklin Institute-Journal, No. 810. 8vo. 1893. Geographical Society, Royal-Geographical Journal, Vol. I. No. 6. 8vo. 1893. Institute of Brewing-Transactions, Vol. VI. No. 7. 8vo. 1893. Johns Hopkins University-Studies in Historical and Political Science, Eleventh Series, Nos. 5, 6. 8vo. 1893. University Circulars, No. 106. 4to. 1893. Leeds Literary and Philosophical Society-Annual Report, 1892-3. 8vo. Madras Government-Madras Meridian Circle Observations, Vol. VI. 1877-79. 8vo. 1893. Hourly Meteorological Observations, 1856-61. 8vo. 1893. Maillot, H. Esq. (the Author)-Dissertation sur les systèmes des poids et mesures et de numération. 8vo. 1892. Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Vol. V. No. 4. 8vo. 1892. Meriden Scientific Association-Addresses. 8vo. 1892. Microscopical Society, Royal-Journal, 1893, Part 3. 8vo. Ministry of Public Works, Rome-Giornale del Genio Civile, 1893, Fasc. 3, 4, and Designi. fol. 1893. Odontological Society-Transactions, Vol. XXV. No. 8. 8vo. 1893. Payne, W. W. and Hale, G. E. (the Editors)—Astronomy and Astro-Physics for Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain-Journal for June, 1893. 8vo. Salomons, ir David, Bart. M.A. M.R.I. (the Author)—The Management of Selborne Society-Nature Notes for July, 1893. 8vo. |